Antonis Daglis – The Athens Ripper – He Hated Prostitutes To Death

Antonis Daglis is a Greek serial killer who was convicted of the murders of three women and attempted murder of six others in Athens on January 23, 1997. Referred to as the “Athens Ripper”, he was sentenced to thirteen terms of life imprisonment, plus 25 years.

Antonis Daglis, a truck driver, preyed upon Athens prostitutes between 1992 and 1995. He had been a repeat juvenile offender since the age of 14. He had a prior record for a 1988 charge of seducing a minor, and in 1989 he was arrested for attacking a group of men at the Zappeion in Athens with a knife.

Antonis Daglis was initially suspected for two murders after he was arrested for the rape and abduction of an English woman named Ann Hamson. After his arrest, Daglis confessed to the rape, strangulation and dismemberment of two women and the attempted murder of a further six, and having robbed all eight women.

Antonis Daglis later admitted to dismembering the bodies of two women, Eleni Panagiotopoulou, 29, and Athina Lazarou, 26 with a hacksaw and disposing of them around Athens. Daglis subsequently confessed to the previously unsolved murder of a prostitute whose dismembered body was found in a dumpster in 1992.

During his trial, Antonis Daglis told the court, “I hated all prostitutes and continue to hate them. I went to meet them for sex but suddenly other pictures came into my head. I heard voices which ordered me to kill. Once I thought about strangling my fiancee, but I restrained myself.”

The Crimes

After his arrest, Antonis Dagli told police he picked up Panagiotopoulou last October 28 from downtown Solonos street, near the Kolonaki district in Athens. They subsequently drove to a parking lot, where he said he strangled the prostitute with his hands as they had sex.

Antonis Dagli said he later dismembered the body with a hacksaw and collected the body parts into several plastic bags, which he dumped near a camping site on the Athens-Lamia national highway.

The victim’s remains were identified a few days later by relatives.

Daglis said he strangled his second victim, Lazarou, with a rope because she mocked him during their love-making session. Her half-naked body was discovered on Christmas Day last year in a deserted area near Kifissos Avenue, in western Athens.

Authorities have identified the other eight women Antonis Dagli reportedly attempted to kill.

According to police files, Daglis was arrested in 1988 for seducing a minor, while in 1989 he was arrested for attacking a group of men in Zappeion with a knife. Authorities are also investigating whether Daglis is behind the murder of another young woman, whose dismembered body was found in a garbage bucket outside the War Museum in October 1992.

Antonis Daglis

Twenty-three year old Antonis Daglis was caught after he let Englishwoman Ann Hamson escape. Ann was abducted by the Greek man who had mistaken her for a prostitute. However the woman was able to convince Daglis that she in fact was not a prostitute and was spared.

Ann Hamson told police of her abduction and Daglis was quickly arrested for the abduction and the suspicion of three other rape/murders and six attempted murders between 1993 and 1996.

In an Athens court on January 23, 1997 Antonis Daglis was found guilty of three sex murders as well as the attempted murder of six other women. In court Daglis was on the stand for weeks discussing how he had abducted three prostitutes, repeatedly raped them before cutting them up with a chainsaw in his house. The bodies were then discarded along the highway.

Antonis Daglis was sentenced to 13 life sentences, plus 25 years in 1997.